Impeaching Reactionary Liberalism

Updated Feb. 19, 1999 12:23 a.m. ET

The 50-50 Senate vote on booting President Clinton from office is by no means the final curtain of the drama these columns have been following so closely for seven years. But it is certainly an occasion to reflect, and in the end we return to where we began. It is not entirely an accident that so flawed a personality became President, for great dynasties typically decline into personal and political corruption. In this sense Mr. Clinton represents the last gasp of New Deal liberalism.